Fela!



My mom was in town for the past week, and we went to see the show Fela! on Broadway. It was phenomenal! I've never been so inspired after leaving a show. The stage, and the entire theater was turned into a spectacle in itself. The costumes, singing, acting, and the music were incredible! It didn't hurt that we were sitting front row, center. We were so close that a couple of times the dancers looked down and saw me drawing and gave me a wink.



The story is of Fela Kuti, a Nigerian musican who created the Afrobeat music style (which is impossible to not dance to!) and became a political activist of Black Power and pan-Africanism.



Fela was inspired by his mother, Kunmilayo Kuti, who was a political activist for women's rights. She was killed after the government responded violently to Fela's anti-government album when she was thrown from a second story window. The woman who played her was incredible. Her voice gave me chills every time, and when she was done with her songs I felt like passing out.



In the second act, in a religious sequence, the entire stage goes into black-light in the dark. It's beautiful. This is also where I noticed the most beautiful woman (one of the dancers). I'm sure I missed a lot of the show just watching these women dance.



Their dancing was completely mesmerizing. It's as if each section of their body was a completely different organism, but all of them were moving to the beat somehow.

Everyone, go out and see this show! You won't be disappointed!

Sledding!



This last Friday we had a blizzard, and on Saturday I went up to the MET where I saw dozens of kids and their parents sledding on the hill behind the museum. It looked like someone had tossed a bunch of Skittles onto the hill! I was a little jealous. I wish I had brought my snowpants out from Colorado.

Drawing in Union Square

Today was my first day back in classes for the spring semester, and I spent practically the entire day drawing in Union Square. It was wonderful! Even though there was a deluge outside, there are plenty of places around to draw people.



I started off the day drawing people in the subway for my first class.






Then on my break between classes, I went and drew people in Starbucks. It's amazing how many different kinds of people you will see if you sit in that Starbucks long enough.



The woman in the blue shirt above (and her husband) noticed me drawing her and came over to see what I was doing. She said she liked the drawing, but joked that she really must have gotten fatter (thank god she was pregnant!). I felt guilty, but I guess that's the risk you take when you go and look at someone's drawing of you!



Finally, after my next class, the rain let up for a brief moment. The sky got intensely blue as the sun started to go down, and I managed to squeeze in a drawing before the rain started again (see rain in upper right corner).

A perfect start to the semester!

At the MET



I was working on a project at the MET today and I stopped to make a drawing of the two people sitting next to me at the cafe in the American sculpture garden. The lady on the left was quite the talker.

Happy Holidays!



Wow, long time no post! That's what finals will do to you...but here's a little series for the holidays of one of the Rockefeller Center angels breaking formation and doing her own thing!
I hope you all have a great non-denominational winter season!

-Evan

Indian Summer



Today was another beautiful, 70-something day, so I tried to squeeze in a little more drawing before it gets too cold to stay outside for hours on end. I was watching a group of highschoolers congregating in Union Square, another thing there will probably be less of once winter sets in.

The Peking



Today was so beautiful outside I decided to go down to the seaport and work, and get a little drawing in too. The Peking always seems so enormous every time I go down there, like it's just another building in downtown Manhattan. Except it's floating in the water...

Fall Foliage



Today, Chris and I went up to see the leaves at the New York Botanical Gardens in the Bronx. The colors were absolutely amazing! We just wandered around the whole day, walked through the forest, got lost. It was so relaxing.



At one point we passed this ridiculously red Japanese maple, and I made Chris stop so I could make a drawing. While we were stopped there, this little family of chipmunks started playing around a bush just past the maple, and were scurrying around the entire time. It was like being in the middle of a scene from Bambi.

Disney: Spectral MAGIC!


So last year at Disney, there happened to be a slight hurricane the entire time we were there. So the Spectral Magic Night Parade Extravaganza was canceled every night we were in the Magic Kingdom. But THIS time, there was no hurricane, and I finally got to see the parade. It was fantastic! They shut off all of the lights on Main Street, and then these bizarre, neon, laser-light, floats and dancers come swirling around and winding their way through the streets, with futuristic beeping and whirring sound effects. It's very beautiful, and very trippy. My favorite part was the Pegaus float from Fantasia, I'm going to have to do a drawing of just them next year....


Disney: Waiting for the Parade



In the Magic Kingdom, the crowds of people start to line the street as the park is closing, waiting for the Spectral Magic Night Parade that goes down Main Street every night. Here are people settling themselves down to wait for the parade, and the parade is up next!

National Equality March



This past Sunday, October 11, 2009, was the National Equality March: A march on the Capitol in Washington DC demanding the LGBT community's full and equal rights under the law. We marched. And we listened to the speeches of leaders, activists, actors, pop-stars, and Judy Shepard, who lost her son years ago to homophobic violence, and inspired the nation to protect their LGBT children. As we all stood and listened, their words echoed from the Capitol to the Washington Monument, to the White House, to every symbol of freedom, equality, and democracy that had built our nation.

To view the entire blog post and all the rest of the drawings, please visit http://picturefor1000voices.com








Disney: Gibbons

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First, a notice: My project, A Picture For A Thousand Voices has moved to http:picturefor1000voices.com and is being updated regularly, so go check it out!
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I have always loved gibbons, ever since I was a little kid. They're so graceful but goofy at the same time, and are by far the most adorable of the apes. Their body language is so human, but so strange and distorted. Animal Kingdom had a baby gibbon this year, who I could have sat and watched for hours. Of course, I had other things I had to go and draw, but I couldn't resist drawing them every time I passed by their enclosure.

Disney: The Castle



Everyone was crowded under the castle as it started to rain. I was under shelter too, but the wind still managed to knock my ink bottle over! Thank god for water soluble ink, the rain did most of the cleaning for me!

The Last Days of Summer



I decided to do my homework in Bryant Park today to celebrate the beginning of fall and mourn the end of summer. It was a beautiful day, and people were out enjoying it like their last!









Disney Session: Animal Parade



The parade in animal kingdom is amazing to draw. You can hear the drums starting from way down the street, and your head starts going and your heart starts jumping like a little kid, and then there's an explosion of joy, color, music, and patterns. Plus, it comes by twice, so twice the drawing!

Disney Session: Life Drawing 3

And here are the drawings from the 5th day (we had a museum day on the 4th day because the model got food poisoning, ouch!):







Next, off to Disneyworld!